Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
6/5/2015
The White House has come out in opposition to sections of the Senate version of the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would impose restrictions on retirements of nuclear-capable bombers and increase the funding cap for Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) programs at the Energy Department’s national laboratories. With a few exceptions, one section of the bill would prohibit retirements of B-2s and B-52s until the new Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B) reaches initial operational capability (IOC). The Air Force plans to enter the LRS-B into service sometime in the mid-2020s.
In a statement of Administration policy released this week, though, the White House said the section is “inconsistent with [the Defense Department’s] fiscal constraints,” and cites Air Force management of operational assets as “critical.” The White House said: “Such prohibitions limit or delay savings, efficiencies, and operational capabilities necessary to meet mission objectives in the current fiscal environment.”
To exempt the Air Force from the prohibitions, the Defense Secretary would be required to include in Presidential budget requests submitted to Congress a certification that “(1) the retirement of the aircraft is required to reallocate funding and manpower resources to enable LRS–B to reach IOC and full operational capability (FOC); and (2) the Secretary has concluded that retirements of…B–2, and B–52 bomber aircraft in the near-term will not detrimentally affect operational capability,” the bill states. The full Senate started debating the bill this week.
White House Says Recommendations Coming on LDRD Rates
The White House also pushed back against a provision of the bill that would increase the LDRD funding cap. Currently, the maximum percentage of lab funding that can be apportioned for special projects is 6 percent. The Senate defense bill proposes to set a floor of 5 percent and raise the upper bound to 8 percent. “The Administration objects to Section 3117, which would increase the maximum amount that can be redirected from funded projects to the National Nuclear Security Administration LDRD from six percent to eight percent,” the statement reads. “Both the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories and Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board are currently looking at the overall issue of LDRD and are going to be making recommendations on LDRD rates in the future.”
